The Issue On Nationalism In Sports Reporting

Sports News in China is strong nationalistic, usually seen in Olympics and Soccer sections. These two species of report exhibit respectively two polar consequences caused by nationalism: Strong social cohesion vs. Narrow national mind.Looking through the origin and evolution of nationalism, nationalistic feeling has filtered into people's mind.Nationalism and Olympic Games are inseparable. Social value reconstruction and dual- properties of media embed nationalism in Olympics. Both characteristic of soccer culture and sociology of soccer violence explain why there is nationalistic feeling in soccer reports.Society, sports and media are strongly influenced by nationalistic feelings. According to investigation, almost all of audiences confirm that sports news is nationalistic; in addition, most informants consider that less nationalism in sports news is better. It is because nationalism could lead to narrow nationalistic feelings, which side-affecting development in sports industry. On the other hand, there is part of audiences who is thinking nationalism in sports news could boost strong social cohesion.Olympics in Beijing 2008 are coming soon. At this moment, should sports news have nationalism or not? This is the main objective and goal of this thesis.Introduction is to briefly present the framework of this thesis, and address the main thesis statement. The body is divided into three chapters: first section is to affirm the sports news in China is nationalistic by through textural analysis, especial in Olympics and Soccer sections; the second section explain the reasons of the nationalistic feelings in the mass media through nationalism theory, the third chapter show the effections of nationalism in sports reports and conclude that sports report should better carried litter nationalism. The last part is the summary of this paper, and gave some suggestions of the Olympic in Beijing 2008.